DECORATIVE SCREEN RETAILER REVEALS EXPANSION PLANS

Screen With Envy, an online retailer of decorative garden and indoor screens, fences and gates, has revealed further international expansion plans following its refinancing with Santander UK.

Santander UK has provided Aylesburybased Screen With Envy a £3.75 million funding package. The funding enables the business to refinance existing debt, free up its cashflow and supports it with importing materials from overseas used in the production of its products.

Screen With Envy was founded in 2017 by Sophie Birkert, who began designing garden screens when she identified a gap in the market for products that were stylish, decorative and durable. At the time she founded the company, she was pregnant with her third child and decided she would turn her hand to running her own business rather than return to her demanding job in the City of London. Five years on, Screen With Envy has a multi-million pound annual revenue, which has grown by more than 800 per cent over the past two years, and employs a staff of 73.

The business sells its products exclusively through its website and, in addition to growing its business in the UK, it is working to increase sales internationally, with a focus on the US and Europe. Having established a subsidiary in the Netherlands in 2020, it is well placed to bolster sales on the Continent, particularly in Germany and France.

Screen With Envy’s products use an advanced wood composite material, which has the look and feel of wood but is lighter and has enhanced durability, giving the products a life of up to 20 years. The company has been a pioneering adopter of the wood composite material, which is made from wood offcuts and recycled plastic, in decorative screening due to its lighter environmental impact and benefits to customers.

Altitude Angel leads UK consortium to build drone

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The consortium has submitted plans for a ‘165-mile drone superhighway’ connecting airspace above cities including Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry, and Rugby.

The blueprint for the superhighway, known as Project Skyway, will enable businesses to develop and grow through the commercialisation of new and innovative drone-based products, processes, and services.

Richard Parker, Altitude Angel, CEO and founder, said: “This is the most ambitious transport project proposed for the country since the advent of the railway network in the 18th century."